Posted: Sun, Nov 5, 2017, 10:14 AM ET (1514 GMT)
Astronomers announced this week the discovery of a planet the size of Jupiter orbiting a star just half the size of the Sun. The planet NGTS-1b orbits an M-dwarf star 600 light-years from the Earth, completing one orbit in just two and a half days. The discovery is puzzling to astronomers because models of solar system formation don't predict the formation of planets as large as NGTS-1b around a star as small as thus one. Astronomers made the discovery with the Next-Generation Transit Survey, a new array of telescopes operated by several universities in Europe and South America.